Qingxiusaurus
Named for Qingxiu, a shortened form of the Chinese phrase meaning 'a picturesque scenery of mountains and water in Guangxi', combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'; meaning 'Qingxiu lizard.'
Late Cretaceous stages
Qingxiusaurus is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Dashi Site of Guangxi, China. The type species, described by Mo and colleagues in 2008, is Q. youjiangensis. Like other sauropods, Qingxiusaurus would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore. It is known from only limited remains collected in 1991: Two humeri, two sternal plates, and the neural spine of a single vertebra.
Diagnosis
- Simply-built, elongated, paddle-shaped cranial caudal neural spine with minimal laminae development
- Cranial caudal neural spine transversely broad, much wider than axially tall
- Length ratio between sternal plate and humerus low (approximately 0.65, versus >0.75 in other titanosaurs)
Species
Qingxiusaurus youjiangensis Mo et al., 2008
Type species
Named for the Youjiang region of Guangxi, China, where the fossil material was collected.
- Holotype
- NHMG 8499 , Natural History Museum of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
- Material
- Partial postcranial skeleton including cranial caudal neural spine, paired sternal plates, and paired humeri
- Horizon
- Cenomanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–66.0 million years ago
- Locality
- Shihuoling, Dashi Village, Nalong Township, Guangxi, China
References
- Mo, J. Y.; Huang, C. L.; Zhao, Z. R.; Wang, W.; Xu, X. (2008). A new titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Guangxi, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 46(2): 147-156. mo2008a